◄ 2 Corinthians 10:8 ►
For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed.
Study Bible
For even if I boast somewhat excessively

Paul admits that his defense of apostolic authority may sound like boasting, especially within a culture that valued public claims of status and accomplishment. Yet he does not seek personal honor. False apostles had challenged his ministry, making it necessary for him to affirm that Christ Himself had appointed and sent him.

2Co 11:16 Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do,…
2Co 12:6 Even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool…
Gal 6:14 But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross…

about the authority the Lord gave us

Paul’s authority came from the risen Lord, who called him to carry Christ’s name before Gentiles, kings, and Israel (Acts 9:15). The authority belonged ultimately to Christ, not to Paul, and therefore could not be used according to personal ambition or harshness. As an apostle, Paul bore a unique responsibility to establish, instruct, correct, and protect the churches through the truth of the gospel.

Mat 10:1 And calling His twelve disciples to Him,…
Luk 9:1 Then Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power…
Mrk 6:7 Then Jesus called the Twelve to Him and began…

for building you up rather than tearing you down,

The Lord entrusted spiritual authority for the strengthening of His people. Paul could confront sin, expose error, and exercise discipline when necessary, but restoration and maturity remained his aim. Church leaders likewise serve Christ by equipping believers for faithful obedience and helping the body grow in unity and holiness (Ephesians 4:11–16).

2Co 13:10 This is why I write these things while absent,…
1Th 5:11 Therefore encourage and build one another up…
Eph 4:12 equip the saints for works of ministry…

I will not be ashamed.

Paul would not withdraw from his God-given responsibility because his ministry was accountable to the Lord who commissioned him. His confidence rested not in personal strength but in the gospel and in Christ’s sustaining grace. Opposition, suffering, and accusations could not invalidate an apostolic mission confirmed by God’s calling and directed toward the church’s spiritual good.

2Ti 1:12 For I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced…
2Ti 1:8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,…
Rom 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul the Apostle
The author of 2 Corinthians, addressing the church in Corinth. He is defending his apostolic authority and mission.

2. Corinth
A major city in ancient Greece, known for its wealth and immorality. The church in Corinth faced many challenges, including divisions and false teachings.

3. The Corinthian Church
The recipients of Paul's letter, struggling with issues of authority, morality, and unity.

4. False Apostles
Individuals who challenged Paul's authority and sought to lead the Corinthians astray with false teachings.

5. The Lord
Refers to Jesus Christ, who granted Paul his apostolic authority for the purpose of edification.
Teaching Points
Authority for Edification
Paul emphasizes that his authority is given by the Lord for the purpose of building up the church. This teaches us that true spiritual authority should always aim to edify and strengthen the body of Christ.

Boasting in the Lord
While Paul acknowledges his boasting, he clarifies that it is in the context of the Lord's work. We should ensure that any confidence we express is rooted in what God has done through us, not in our own abilities.

Discernment of True Leadership
The Corinthians faced challenges from false apostles. We must exercise discernment in recognizing leaders who genuinely seek to build up the church according to God's will.

Constructive Criticism
Paul's approach to authority involves constructive criticism aimed at growth. In our interactions, we should focus on providing feedback that builds others up rather than tearing them down.

Unashamed of God-given Roles
Paul is unashamed of his role and authority. We should embrace the roles God has given us, using them to serve and edify others without fear or shame.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Paul's understanding of authority in 2 Corinthians 10:8 challenge or affirm your view of leadership within the church?

2. In what ways can you apply the principle of building others up in your daily interactions with fellow believers?

3. How can you discern between true and false teachings or leaders in your spiritual community?

4. Reflect on a time when you received constructive criticism. How did it help you grow, and how can you offer similar feedback to others?

5. What roles or responsibilities has God given you, and how can you use them to edify the body of Christ without feeling ashamed?
Connections to Other Scriptures
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
Paul discusses the foundation of Jesus Christ and the role of leaders in building upon it, emphasizing the importance of edification.

Ephesians 4:11-12
Highlights the purpose of church leadership in equipping the saints for the work of ministry and building up the body of Christ.

2 Corinthians 13:10
Paul reiterates his authority to build up the church, not to tear it down, emphasizing his pastoral concern.

Romans 15:2
Encourages believers to please their neighbors for their good, to build them up, aligning with Paul's mission in Corinth.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Calls for mutual encouragement and edification among believers, reflecting Paul's intent in his ministry.
Sermons
Apostolic AuthorityJ.R. Thomson 2 Corinthians 10:8
God's Gift of Special Power to ManD. Thomas, D. D.2 Corinthians 10:8-10
The Corinthian Criticism of St. PaulJ. Denney, B. D.2 Corinthians 10:8-10
Continuation of His DefenceC. Lipscomb 2 Corinthians 10:8-11
People
Corinthians, Paul
Places
Achaia, Corinth
Topics
Abundantly, Anything, Apostolic, Ashamed, Authority, Boast, Build, Building, Casting, Cause, Destroying, Destruction, Disappointed, Edification, Feel, Freely, Further, Glory, However, Loudly, Overthrowing, Pride, Pull, Pulling, Rather, Reason, Shame, Somewhat, Though
Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Corinthians 10:8

     5216   authority, nature of
     5240   building
     5396   lordship, of Christ
     7709   apostles, authority
     8413   edification
     8820   self-confidence

2 Corinthians 10:7-18

     6121   boasting

Library
A Militant Message
'Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be fulfilled.'--2 COR. x. 5 and 6 (R.V.). None of Paul's letters are so full of personal feeling as this one is. It is written, for the most part, at a white heat; he had heard from his trusted Titus tidings which on one hand filled him with a thankfulness of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

And, the Case Being Thus, Enough and More than Enough Answer Has Been Made...
33. And, the case being thus, enough and more than enough answer has been made to the heretics, whether they be Manichees, or whosoever other that bring false charges against the Fathers of the Old Testament, on the subject of their having several wives, thinking this a proof whereby to convict them of incontinence: provided, that is, that they perceive, that that is no sin, which is committed neither against nature, in that they used those women not for wantonness, but for the begetting of children: …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage

Excursus on the Use of the Word "Canon. "
(Bright: Notes on the Canons, pp. 2 and 3.) Kanon, as an ecclesiastical term, has a very interesting history. See Westcott's account of it, On the New Testament Canon, p. 498 ff. The original sense, "a straight rod" or "line," determines all its religious applications, which begin with St. Paul's use of it for a prescribed sphere of apostolic work (2 Cor. x. 13, 15), or a regulative principle of Christian life (Gal. vi. 16). It represents the element of definiteness in Christianity and in the …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Perfect in Parts, Imperfect in Degrees.
And the very God of peace sanctify, you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. -- 1 Thess. v. 23. The Scriptural doctrine that sanctification is a gradual process perfected only in death must be maintained clearly and soberly: first, in opposition to the Perfectionist, who says that saints may be "wholly sanctified" in this life; secondly, to those who deny the implanting of inherent holy dispositions in God's children. …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Conflicts with Giant Mistake
CONFLICTS WITH GIANT MISTAKE I make so many mistakes, it seems I am just a bundle of contradictions. I try to do good; but at times my efforts are so crude that I seem to do more harm than good. What shall I do? And though all the time I try hard not to make mistakes, yet I still make them. It seems to me that surely I am not sanctified, or else I should be more perfect. Do not the Scriptures command us to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect? I am not perfect; far from it. Really I …
Robert Lee Berry—Adventures in the Land of Canaan

But, Again, Lest by Occasion of this Sentence...
50. But, again, lest by occasion of this sentence, any one should sin with deadly security, and should allow himself to be carried away, as though his sins were soon by easy confession to be blotted out, he straightway added, "My little children, these things have I written unto you, that ye sin not; and, if one shall have sinned, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and Himself is a propitiation of our sins." [2207] Let no one therefore depart from sin as though about …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Introductory.
As introductory to the following dissertation, I shall explain and define certain terms that frequently occur in it, especially canon, apocryphal, ecclesiastical, and the like. A right apprehension of these will make the observations advanced respecting the canon and its formation plainer. The words have not been taken in the same sense by all, a fact that obscures their sense. They have been employed more or less vaguely by different writers. Varying ideas have been attached to them. The Greek …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

"If we Say that we have not Sinned, we Make Him a Liar, and his Word is not in Us. "
1 John i. 10.--"If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." There is nothing in which religion more consists than in the true and unfeigned knowledge of ourselves. The heathens supposed that sentence, {GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER NU}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA} {GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON}{GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON}{GREEK …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Because the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God, for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. "
Rom. viii. 7.--"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Unbelief is that which condemns the world. It involves in more condemnation than many other sins, not only because more universal, but especially because it shuts up men in their misery, and secludes them from the remedy that is brought to light in the gospel. By unbelief I mean, not only that careless neglect of Jesus Christ offered for salvation, but that which is the …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Of the Joy of a Good Conscience
The testimony of a good conscience is the glory of a good man. Have a good conscience and thou shalt ever have joy. A good conscience is able to bear exceeding much, and is exceeding joyful in the midst of adversities; an evil conscience is ever fearful and unquiet. Thou shalt rest sweetly if thy heart condemn thee not. Never rejoice unless when thou hast done well. The wicked have never true joy, nor feel internal peace, for there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.(1) And if they say …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Third Wall.
The third wall falls of itself, as soon as the first two have fallen; for if the Pope acts contrary to the Scriptures, we are bound to stand by the Scriptures, to punish and to constrain him, according to Christ's commandment; "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

"But Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God," &C.
Matt. vi. 33.--"But seek ye first the kingdom of God," &c. O "seekest thou great things for thyself," says God to Baruch, (Jer. xlv. 5) "seek them not." How then doth he command us in the text to seek a kingdom? Is not this a great thing? Certainly it is greater than those great things he would not have Baruch to seek after, and yet he charges us to seek after it. In every kind of creatures there is some difference, some greater, some lesser, some higher, some lower; so there are some men far above …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Pharisee and the Publican
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself; God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the Publican, standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.-- Luke, xviii. 10-13. In the beginning …
John Bunyan—The Pharisee And Publican

Epistle Lii. To Natalis, Bishop .
To Natalis, Bishop [1463] . Gregory to Natalis, Bishop of Salona. As though forgetting the tenour of former letters, I had determined to say nothing to your Blessedness but what should savour of sweetness: but, now that in your epistle you have recurred in the way of argumentation to preceding letters, I am once more compelled to say perhaps some things that I had rather not have said. For in defence of feasts your Fraternity mentions the feast of Abraham, in which by the testimony of Holy Scripture …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

A Discourse Upon the Pharisee and the Publican
WHEREIN SEVERAL GREAT AND WEIGHTY THINGS ARE HANDLED: AS, THE NATURE OF PRAYER, AND OF OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW, WITH HOW FAR IT OBLIGES CHRISTIANS, AND WHEREIN IT CONSISTS. WHEREIN IS ALSO SHEWED, THE EQUALLY DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF THE PHARISEE, OR HYPOCRITICAL AND SELF-RIGHTEOUS MAN; AND OF THE PUBLICAN, OR SINNER THAT LIVES IN SIN, AND IN OPEN VIOLATION OF THE DIVINE LAWS. TOGETHER WITH THE WAY AND METHOD OF GOD'S FREE GRACE IN PARDONING PENITENT SINNERS; PROVING THAT HE JUSTIFIES THEM BY IMPUTING …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Sick Person Ought Now to Send for Some Godly and Religious Pastor.
In any wise remember, if conveniently it may be, to send for some godly and religious pastor, not only to pray for thee at thy death--for God in such a case hath promised to hear the prayers of the righteous prophets, and elders of the church (Gen. xx. 7; Jer. xviii. 20; xv. 1; 1 Sam. xii. 19, 23; James v. 14, 15, 16)--but also upon thy unfeigned repentance to declare to thee the absolution of thy sins. For as Christ hath given him a calling to baptize thee unto repentance for the remission of thy …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

First Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Romans 12, 1-6. 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 2 And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

I May Briefly Reduce the Chief Persuading Motive to this So Needful and So Much...
I may briefly reduce the chief persuading motive to this so needful and so much desiderated grace into some three or four heads. All things within and without persuade to it, but especially the right consideration of the love of God in Christ, the wise and the impartial reflection on ourselves, the consideration of our brethren whom we are commanded to love, and the thorough inspection into the nature and use of the grace itself. In consideration of the First, a soul might argue itself into a complacency …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Holy War,
MADE BY SHADDAI UPON DIABOLUS, FOR THE REGAINING OF THE METROPOLIS OF THE WORLD; OR, THE LOSING AND TAKING AGAIN OF THE TOWN OF MANSOUL. THE AUTHOR OF 'THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.' 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms in the Poultry; and Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Bunyan's account of the Holy War is indeed an extraordinary book, manifesting a degree of genius, research, and spiritual …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Third Sunday after Trinity Humility, Trust, Watchfulness, Suffering
Text: 1 Peter 5, 5-11. 5 Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 whom withstand stedfast …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Sanctification
'For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.' I Thess 4:4. The word sanctification signifies to consecrate and set apart to a holy use: thus they are sanctified persons who are separated from the world, and set apart for God's service. Sanctification has a privative and a positive part. I. A privative part, which lies in the purging out of sin. Sin is compared to leaven, which sours; and to leprosy, which defiles. Sanctification purges out the old leaven.' I Cor 5:5. Though it takes not …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

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